When displaying two-dimensional (2D) renderings of three-dimensional (3D) volume data, such as in a 3D ultrasound dataset, it may be desirable to visualize one or more surfaces together with the volume data in a manner to allow a visual determination of where the surfaces intersect the volume. For example, it may be desirable to visualize intersections between volume data and planes. In 3D cardiac ultrasound, where it is common to display one or more 2D slice planes reconstructed from a 3D ultrasound data volume, it is important to be able to determine from the displayed information how the 2D slice planes are positioned with respect to the volume rendering to identify the relationship between the two visualization techniques.
However, navigating the 3D ultrasound data volume may be difficult for users. Consequently, a user may encounter difficulties when adjusting the 2D views or discerning the relationship between the 2D slices and the 3D image volume. Further still, the 3D image volume is typically colorized, and so the user may also encounter difficulties when ascertaining the position of the 2D slices within the 3D image volume, even with the visualization of the intersections.